SC seeks Govt reply on relaxing ship breaking rules

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Union Government to file its reply within eight weeks to a petition seeking relaxation of mandatory conditions for ship breaking. Requesting modification of an earlier order passed by the apex court regarding mandatory guidelines to be followed for the ship-breaking process, advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Ship Recycling Industries Association, informed a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia that more than 50 ships were waiting to be dismantled.

The Court on September 6 last year, had directed that the recommendations made by Technical Experts Committee (TEC) on ships with hazardous waste shall continue till the Centre formulates a suitable code for dismantling such ships. It had also said that the concerned District Collector shall personally monitor the dismantling operation and in case of any explosion, the licence of the plot-holder of the site should be cancelled.

The Court had passed the directions while dealing with a petition filed by Research Foundation, an NGO, alleging lack of adequate safeguards for dismantling ships which was leading to environmental pollution and causing fatal diseases to the workers involved in the activity.